For her to stop nursing.

For her to start walking.

For her to loose her chubby baby cheeks.

For her to grow up!

Wishing this baby time lasted longer. . .

Happy 1st Birthday baby girl!

And then last weekend we were back.

It’s all kind of a blur…and not exactly how we planned to spend our three-day weekend.

On Friday Serity had a mild fever and was a bit fussy throughout the day. Tylenol took care of it and I thought she was just cutting a tooth. But Friday night was rough–she woke up with a fever and didn’t sleep well the rest of the night. Then Saturday morning when she woke she was burning up, breathing heavily, and threw up. Then her whole body started shaking and she was unresponsive. I recognized it as a seizure and we rushed her to the emergency room where they admitted her with a fever of 105.3F.

After ruling out ear infection, flu, RSV, etc. the ER doctor ordered some blood and urine tests and determined she had a urinary tract infection (UTI)–reportedly common in little girls. They got her fever under control, gave her an IV of antibiotics, and then sent us home with instructions to return Sunday and Monday for more doses of the antibiotics.

We’d been home for not more than five minutes when Serity was suddenly feverishly hot again and her body started seizing again–more violently than before. Her hands and feet turned blue and she was unresponsive so we shoved the kids back to the van and sped back to the ER. I got really nervous and started to realize something serious was going on when the doctor and several nurses and paramedics were working to slow her heartbeat down (over 200 BPM), bring her raging fever down (104F), and stop the still-going seizure. That’s also when I got really emotional and had to struggle to keep it together while I called around trying to find someone to come get our other kids. 

Once Seri was stable again the doctor felt she either had a very severe UTI or a kidney infection and it was decided that she needed to be transferred to the children’s hospital about two hours away. Seri was taken to the intensive care unit (ICU) in an ambulance while Jared and I went home, packed bags, got the kids to a friend’s house, and then made the drive to Louisville.

Thankfully she only had to spend one night in the ICU where they continued to manage her fever and pump her with infection-fighting medication. Once she was stable she moved to “the floor” where we stayed until Monday afternoon.

She’s doing well–still fighting mild fevers, still needing to take medicines, still fussy and a bit lethargic–but home. Our voicemail is full of thoughful messages–thank you. Jared is back to work today and I am working to get caught up so I thought it would be a bit easier to give an update here.

We love you baby girl and are so grateful to have you healthy and back home again!

(Feeling better and ready to bust out of this place!)

Here’s a peek:

What a cool idea…to take such and ordinary event and turn it into a fab layout. Someday it will be fun to look back and re-read the layout and remember what her daily life was like and what they ate. Or maybe I’m just slightly obsessed with that at the moment because of our recent history studies. Go give Kelleanne some love! And if you want to create a similar layout, the Hodge Podge blog has a shopping list challenge going on right now. So fun.

It all inspired me to create this little memo pad…

…which I had printed FOR FREE (!!) at Artscow. 

(Want a notepad like mine? Download image for FREE here. Then go here to Artscow, click the CREATE button, and choose the “create your own option.” Upload the JPEG file, then lower the opacity–right side–to 35-45ish. Save, add to cart, add the coupon code and it should be completely FREE! No shipping costs even! Offer is one per household and is available to residents of the USA, Canada, Australia and Europe.)

I can’t wait to get it back to make lists for my future shopping trips in which I buy things (and save a ton of money!) like this…

Since I only spent $10.41 last week, I needed quite a few things this week. But notice, I was still well under my $50/week budget. I didn’t find any meat deals I was excited about so I’ll be digging into the freezer stash, but I got some other great scores.

FREE: Ronzoni pasta, Right Guard deodorant, Danimals yogurt tubes (we love freezing these!), Annie’s organic salad dressing, Ball Park hot dogs, Old El Paso taco seasoning, (plus watermelon and tomatoes from our friend’s garden)

CHEAP: marked-down and loss-leader produce (always makes me happy!), Quaker oatmeal ($0.98/box), Tylenol Cold Medicine ($1.19)

Ugh, I can’t tell you how depressing it was to pay FULL PRICE for ketchup. Generic, but still. I’m worried that I missed all the stock-up sales this summer. Maybe Labor Day will give me one more chance?

Some of my favorite printable coupons right now:

• HOT $5/5 Kraft Cheese or Dairy products (CHEAP or possibly FREE cheese or cream cheese!)
• HOT $0.50/1 Old El Paso product (FREE taco seasoning!)
• $1/2 Oscar Meyer hot dogs (MSM says you can get these FREE at Albertsons this week)
• $0.50/1 Yoplait kid’s yogurt (when doubled makes CHEAP and sometimes FREE yogurt)
• $1/1 Quaker Oats (use at Kroger or Target this week to get oatmeal for about $1 a box) 

What’s on your shopping list?

First we decorated the dining room with some “cave art.”

Then we talked about what we could make, made lists and a menu, and went shopping.

Then we set the table.

On our menu:

• Meat (hamburger patties)
• Fish (tilapia filets)
• Grain (long grain and wild rice pilaf)
• Nuts (almonds)
• Berries (raspberries)
• Roots (roasted carrots with garlic) 
• Leaves (Spring Mix salad)
• Snakes (crescent roll dough rolled into “snakes”)
• Honey

The best part about it? I don’t think we’ll forget a nomad’s diet any time soon! In fact, Ryan’s been telling everyone he sees about it. I think the grocery store cashier thought we were kind of weird, but whatev.

So anyway…

It’s all great and fun and cute and everything, and will be fab in my scrapbook, but what if you don’t follow the Story of the World curriculum, don’t homeschool, or aren’t even sure who or what the nomads are? Create a meal planned around a theme you love!

(*Side note, our family reviewed the story of Adam and Eve as the absolute “earliest” people before this history lesson.)

It’s that time again…

Didn’t do much grocery shopping this weekend. No deals I was super excited about, and my pantry/freezer are pretty full and our neighbors continue to share garden-fresh produce. Oh, plus it’s the end of the month so I’m nearing the end of my $200/month budget. So, all I bought was some marked-down lean beef, milk, and a bit more produce. I spent $10.41.

Here is my dinner plan for this week:

• Crockpot beef and gravy over noodles, biscuits, steamed veggies
• Cranberry Meatballs over rice, 
• Spaghetti, breadsticks, salad
• Pita pizzas, salad
• Hamburgers and hot dogs, chips, watermelon
• Leftovers

Download my FREE meal planner *updated to include a blank copy*. (See how I printed mine here.)

For more meal plan ideas, visit OrgJunkie.

First off, I have this new element pack, and coordinating freebie at Little Dreamer.

If you’re not sure about digital scrapbooking, but want to give it a try, Amazon is offering the Digital Scrapbook Artist software FREE today! (normally $49.99) There are limited quantities, so download quickly if you are interested. (Thanks, Freebies 4 Mom!)

Amazon is also offering a (limited quantities) FREE download of the PagePlus Essentials software (normally $49.99). I haven’t tried either one of these programs, but I’m guessing (from reading the product descriptions) they would be good programs for beginning digital scrapbookers if you want to try it out before committing and purchasing Photoshop. Or if you are a digi scrapper and want to get your friends started… Just sayin.’ (Thanks, Freebies 4 Mom!)

For more digital scrapbooking freebies, check out The Daily Digi’s Funtastic Friday list. They have lots of great freebies from top designers compiled every week.

Yum…print a coupon for a FREE appetizer from Chili’s when you sign up for their e-mail club.

And sign up here for a free sample of John Frieda shampoo. I love getting these little samples in the mail. They are perfect to keep in a little basket in the bathroom for guests, to take on a trip, to throw in your bag for the airplane, etc. And they usually come with a coupon or two, making the deal even sweeter. I’ve often been able to get full-size bottles of John Frieda shampoo/conditioner for $0.50 or less when combined with a sale and coupon.

This freebie is actually tomorrow, but if you have a Lowes nearby stop in for the free kid’s clinic. Tomorrow they are building a schoolbus. My husband and I took the kids to the clinic a couple of weeks ago to build bug boxes (along with our study of animal habitats) and it was a lot of fun! 

Happy Friday! Hope you have a great weekend .

Edited: *Some offers may only be available in the US.*

A couple months after my son was born and I became a stay-at-home mom I started getting a little antsy about what to do with my time (now I LOOONG for those days!). I was also trying to adjust to going from two comfy incomes to just one in which we no longer had a lot of spending money to feed my scrapbooking addiction hobby.

Eventually I tapped into my creative-side and have been able to earn a little extra hobby money selling artwork and digital designs. (Whole other story about how I got started in that which I’ll tell another time.) But before that I desperately tried to find something I could do to pull in a bit of income. Some of my ideas were fantastic, others flopped. Like the time I replied to an ad for stuffing envelopes…and paid $40 to get all the “start-up” supplies. You can guess where that one went. NEVER, NEVER send money for any of those work-at-home ads. . .but you probably already know that.

One of the legitimate things I did try for a while (while nursing the babe or while he was napping) was to take paid online surveys. Didn’t make a lot of money, and you definitely won’t get rich on taking online surveys, but it was easy, and did pool in a little bit which I could then spend as play money. And a little something is better than nothing, right?

Again, please be aware, there ARE a lot of scammy sites out there and there are also some that are much more work than they are worth. But here are a few legitimate sites I’ve tried or have heard great things about:

Pinecone Research is highly talked about, AND right now they are accepting new applications. (No longer accepting applications) They pay $3 for every survey completed and the checks come within days of completing a survey.

Swag Bucks is definitely one of my favorites because it is SOOOO easy to use! Swag Bucks is more of a search engine although you can take surveys and complete offers as well. Basically you search the internet as you normally do, but instead of using google or whatever, you use the Swag Bucks search engine. I have the toolbar downloaded on my homepage so I won’t forget. As you go about your normal internet activity it will randomly award you points. The points start to add up and pretty soon you can cash in your points for gift cards. My favorite is to cash in for Amazon giftcards. This year I’ve been able to buy a lot of our homeschool curriculum as well as an I-Pod for my husband using Amazon giftcards I ”bought” with my Swag Bucks. My friend Kelleigh has been saving her Swag-Buck-bought giftcards and plans to pay for Christmas this year. FREE money people! It’s not a lot, but it DOES add up. 

Inbox Dollars is a way to make money reading e-mails. I have a separate e-mail set-up for these e-mails to come. Usually the e-mails are just ads and I spend five or ten minutes clicking through the e-mails. You can also take surveys, print coupons (!), and complete offers with InBox Dollars.

Survey Head is another survey company. They offer a $5 signup bonus and have quite a few surveys available.

Today we played a variation of a cute spelling game I found in this* book.

I put several stickers (could also use tape, bingo chips, etc.) on the floor a foot or two apart. At the end of the sticker path was a coveted package of fruit snacks–one for each kid.

They started out on the first sticker and I gave them a word from this week’s spelling list. Ryan (K/1st) spelled the word and if he got it correct he could jump to the next dot. Emmy (Pre-K) listened to me say the first sound of the word and then told me what letter the word started with before jumping to the next dot.

They thought it was super fun and worked hard to get to those fruit snacks at the end of the sticker path. After the game they ate their snacks and Ryan took his spelling test (100%!). They begged to play the game several more times throughout the day but I capped them at one package of fruit snacks so they started using their toys as “prizes.” It’s so cute to watch them “play school” and repeat the activities we’ve done together.

Anyway, I was thinking even if you don’t homeschool this game could definitely be used for homework practice or just a fun preschool learning activity. Think spelling words, flashcards, math problems, etc. So simple, yet mixes things up a bit.

*365 Reading Activities is a super cute book of educational ideas which motivate and expose your pre-readers and early readers to literacy. LOVE this book because the ideas are so creative and do-able and most of them don’t require a lot of prep or supplies. AND, it’s only $5!

Combine cool stuff with a bit of creativity and Wah-laaa! I give you:

Super cool vintage-y (and totally falling apart book):

Rusty iron star:

Using the pages from the super-cool-vintage-y-and-totally-falling-apart book plus scrapbook paper and old buttons:

Pages from an old etiquette book on table manners (modge podged to a canvas) plus some ugly-but-somehow-inspire-me wooden utensils: (tutorial here)

How fun are these vases? And I go weak over barnwood frames.

And I LOVE my paint-peeling window:

What’s your decorating style? Inspire me .

Linked to: Made by You Monday, Works for Me Wednesday, Make Do Mondays

Snuck in on the last day of the buy 8 get $4 off sale.

Total BEFORE: $99.10

Total AFTER: $25.90

Wooohooo…That’s like…75% off! Not that I would pay that much for those groceries to begin with, but STILL.

FREE: Right Guard Deodorant

CHEAP: Sunny D ($0.45 each), Yoplait yogurt ($0.79), Betty Crocker brownie bowls ($0.14 each), Nature Valley Granola bars ($0.34 each), Better Oats oatmeal ($0.50 each), Country Crock ($0.20 each)

Oh, and notice there are Huggies in there too? ($6.49) Not a great deal, but still cheaper than generic and I was running low. And another shoutout to our sweet neighbors. We are still enjoying their garden-fresh veggies and fruits so we haven’t had to buy much produce this month. And since I’ve obviously kept under my goal of $50 a week, we used the excess to go out for pizza this weekend! Fun.

I think I would be a professional grocery shopper if I could.

Here are some of my favorite deals for next week (Aug. 23): (Thanks, MommySnacks!)

$1 Better Oats Instant Oatmeal 5 ct Pouches
Facebook Coupon: B1G1 Better Oats Oatmeal
$.50 each

$1 Shedd’s Country Crock 15 oz
$0.40/1 Shedd’s Country Crock Product (IE) or Printable (FF)
$.20 each

$1 Hefty One Zip Bags Storage or Freezer 13-22 ct
$1/2 Hefty One Zip Bags (IE) or Printable (FF)
$.50 each

$1 Right Guard Deodorant 2.6-3 oz
B1G1 Right Guard or Dry Idea Product 7/25/2010 RP Insert (exp 8/31/2010)
$1/1 Right Guard
Buy 2 FREE!